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As schools welcome students back, buses take to roads

By Jill Thurston 4 min read
article image - Jon Andreassi/Observer-Reporter
Former PennDOT Acting Press Officer Jay Ofsanik demonstrates how drivers should stop about 10 feet away when a school bus is picking up or dropping off students in this file photo from 2022.

With summer coming to a close, school buses will be back on the roads and motorists are urged to be mindful of school bus laws.

The Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts reports that two school zone laws – illegally passing a school bus or speeding in a school zone – have been violated more than 25,057 times across Pennsylvania during the last five years, from 2019 to 2023.

Kalee Barnhart, public information officer for the state police in Uniontown, reminds motorists that bus operators are permitted to report drivers who pass a school bus when the red lights are flashing and the stop arm is extended.

“The school bus driver can actually turn that operator in and that’s when we cite them,” said Barnhart. Using cameras outfitted on the buses, the driver can submit a form from the state Department of Transportation to the police. “It happens more often than you would think,” Barnhart said.

Pennsylvania law requires that drivers stop at least 10 feet away from a school bus when its red lights are flashing and the stop arm is extended and wait until the red lights stop flashing, the stop arm is withdrawn and children reach a place of safety before moving, according to PennDOT.

If convicted of violating a school bus law, penalties are a 60-day driver’s license suspension, five points added to the driving record and a $250 fine.

In Southwestern Pennsylvania, Fayette County had fewer citations for illegally passing a school bus with four in 2023, down from 14 in 2022. Greene County was also low, with one citation issued in 2023, down from five in 2022. Washington County citations for the same violation rose from 31 in 2022 to 108 in 2023, according to the AOPC.

Sgt. Dan O’Leary of the North Strabane Township Police Department said he thinks an increased emphasis on monitoring school buses last year could be the reason for the rise in citations in Washington County.

Any complaints received would lead to officers keeping a close watch for drivers illegally passing buses. “We put more emphasis on targeting that sort of enforcement and that would be my guess as to why there were more citations,” O’Leary said.

While Greene County had low citation numbers for passing a school bus illegally, Patrolman Mason Hamilton of the Waynesburg Police Department had this warning: “Just because a police officer doesn’t observe it, doesn’t mean you won’t get in trouble for it, because most of the buses have cameras on them now.” He noted Waynesburg has a fair amount of bus traffic.

Lt. Tom Kolencik of the Uniontown Police Department said that throughout the school year they cite a handful of drivers overtaking a school bus.

“Most of our kids going to school are walkers. We don’t have a whole lot of bus pickup. We are out there on patrol and that slows people down,” he said.

In Fayette County, no school zone speeding citations were issued in 2022 and 2023.

“As far as speeding through school zones, our city never really has an issue with speeding because we are a stop light to stop light area,” Kolencik said.

Greene County citations for school zone speeding dropped to zero in 2023 from two in 2022.

Washington County saw an increase in those citations, up from 13 in 2022 to 60 in 2023.

O’Leary advises drivers to be alert. “Personally, when I’ve dealt with the school zones, when you stop someone who has sped through a school zone, most times they say they did not realize it was a school zone.”

North Strabane uses signage attached to the speed limit signs that flash a white light when a driver is speeding to catch their attention.

“We use that as a deterrent in areas near the schools,” O’Leary said. “Once school gets back into swing, we try to move our enforcement to target those areas and keep kids safe.”

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